The internal combustion engine is one of the most commonly found and used pieces of machinery on the planet. While the internal combustion engine has been in use for decades, there have been few substantial deviations from its original design.
Over the past 20 years, however, changes in the environment and the world economy have prompted a search for improvements in the internal combustion engine. First, the higher cost of gasoline through the depletion of oil reserves has resulted in a need for engines which are more fuel efficient in relation to their power output.
Second, stringent emission standards have been adopted by many countries and states. The need has arisen for engines which are cleaner burning and have reduced harmful emission outputs.
Many engines having greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions have been developed. These engines have suffered from numerous drawbacks, however. Most often, to accomplish the desired goals, the engine design becomes extremely complicated. This causes the initial cost of production to rise tremendously, and also raises later cost of repairs. In the competitive automobile industry, such increased costs must normally be born by the consumer. Unfortunately, when faced with these higher costs, consumers will normally choose the less environmentally sound, lesser cost alternative.
Further, current engine designs are based on the engine being constructed of metal. Metal is often costly to manufacture, and numerous harmful by-products are produced during manufacture. More importantly, however, metal is subject to wear, lessening the useful life of the engine.
Currently, other alternate materials are being examined for use in manufacturing engines. One such material is ceramic. Unfortunately, ceramic has not been proven useful in applications involving high impact stresses or forces, and is fairly weak when not formed into a bulky part.
Therefore, parts such as current design engine rockers and valves which are small and subject to repeated high impact forces are not suitable for manufacture of ceramic. A need exists for an engine design which is simple enough that the engine can meet the desired goals outlined above, and which can be manufactured from an alternate material such as ceramic.